Computers and computer-based devices have become a necessary tool for many applications throughout the world. Typewriters and slide rules have become obsolete in light of keyboards coupled with sophisticated word-processing applications and calculators that include advanced mathematical functions/capabilities. Moreover, computers that were once used solely for analyzing data have, over time, been transformed into multi-functional, multi-purpose machines utilized for contexts ranging from business applications to multi-media entertainment. Costs of such computing mechanisms have also trended downward, rendering personal computers ubiquitous throughout many parts of the world.
As computing devices have continued to develop and their use have become more widespread, peripherals associated with such devices have also become commonplace. For instance, typical computing devices include a plurality of ports into which peripherals can be attached and utilized in connection with the aforementioned computing devices. More particularly, attachable peripherals can include printers, keyboards, portable music/video players and recorders, cameras, video cards, speaker systems, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable telephones, or any other suitable computer peripheral. These devices can be physically coupled to a computing device by way of ports (e.g., card slots, USB ports, printer ports, etc.), or can be communicatively coupled over a wireless link (e.g., Bluetooth, WiFi/802.11, wireless USB, etc.). This interaction of peripherals with computing devices has rendered such computing devices even more valuable in terms of user efficiency.
Plug-and-play is one exemplary manner of configuring a computer peripheral to operate desirably with a computing device. Plug-and-play typically requires support in both a hardware device (e.g., a peripheral) coupled to a computing device and in software associated with such device. Hardware devices are typically associated with an identification number or sequence that uniquely identifies the type of hardware device. For instance, a sequence of bits, a name, a serial number, or the like can be employed to uniquely identify the type of hardware device. A computer bus driver then recognizes that a particular type of hardware device has been coupled to the computing device and transmits the device ID to a plug-and-play manager that locates a software driver for the device for installation. The appropriate device driver is then loaded into an operating system of the computing device to enable utilization of the hardware that is desirably being utilized.
Radio or wireless devices can impose additional issues with plug and play performance. Because these types of devices transmit and receive wireless signals, different devices (using the same or different wireless technologies) can often conflict with each other, causing communication interference issues with a common computing platform. The wireless devices can also conflict with regional laws and regulations that govern what frequencies can be employed by local governments or countries and the like. Thus, a particular wireless device can be legally operated in one region but still be illegal to operate in another. These conflict issues tend to limit the use of wireless devices and place additional burdens on users of the computing platforms to ensure that they are in compliance with local laws and also to resolve any wireless interference problems between different wireless devices plugged into their computers.